Smoke detectors are well known in the art. Smoke detectors have been used for years to prevent damage, destruction, and even death that can result from an undetected fire that has started somewhere within the living quarters of a home or within other structures that are occupied by persons from time to time. Smoke detectors, when properly used and maintained, have been credited for saving many lives over the years.
Smoke detectors are typically mounted to the ceilings of structures or at high points along vertical walls, it being known that fires generally burn upwardly and that smoke from fires generally rises. The typical smoke detector can be “hard-wired” into the circuitry of the home or can be used with a small battery, or even a combination of the two for purposes of “back-up.” The internal circuitry of the typical smoke detector is relatively simple. The power supply is usually connected in series with an alarm device, such as an audio speaker, and with a smoke sensor or detection device. As long as the smoke sensor or detection device does not detect any smoke, the circuit remains open. If smoke is detected, the circuit becomes closed, thereby activating the audio alarm by allowing current to pass through it. The means for smoke detection is typically provided by two immediately-adjacent, but slightly separated, parallel detection plates contained within the smoke sensor or detection device. When smoke particles find their way between the two detection plates, and are in sufficient density or quantity to “trigger” the sensor, the circuit then closes, and the circuit allows the audio alarm to have current provided to it and allows it to “sound off.” Other variations of this basic circuitry exist, but most smoke detectors operate in essentially the same fashion.
One inconvenience that is often experienced in the use of such smoke detectors of current manufacture is the fact that the occupant of a home in which such detectors are used can create a “controlled” situation where “nuisance” smoke is emitted and the smoke detector becomes activated, thus sounding the audio alarm. While this is not a “false reading” type of a situation, since the smoke detector is reacting to a condition that it was designed to detect, it is a situation where the occupant is in full control of the situation. The occupant may be cooking in the kitchen, for example, where an excess deposit of material may have momentarily ignited in the oven, and the smoke detector sounds off. In this type of a situation, it would be desirable if the occupant could momentarily silence the audio alarm component of the smoke detector to avoid the annoying alarm that is sounded without completely disarming or deactivating the smoke detector.
One way of temporarily “silencing” the smoke detector alarm is to simply stand under it and wave a towel around it to dissipate the accumulated nuisance smoke. What this is really doing is diminishing the amount of smoke that is sensed by the detector which, in turn, temporarily “silences” the alarm. However, the nuisance smoke usually re-activates the smoke detector, thereby requiring the user to repeat this futile activity. Another way of completely disarming or deactivating the smoke detector altogether is for the user to place a chair under it, climb up onto the chair, and reach up and pull the battery out of the smoke detector, the battery being plugged into a pair of terminals that are intended to retain the battery within the unit. In the experience of these inventors, the battery is easily detachable by simply accessing a battery compartment that is enclosed by an equally easily removable cover. Unfortunately, this method requires that the battery be replaced at a later time anyway. If forgotten, a hazardous, or even deadly, condition could exist. And if the smoke detector is hard-wired into the circuitry of the home, this method won't work anyway.
Other assemblies of prior art have also attempted to provide the user of a smoke detector with the ability to totally or partially deactivate a smoke detector during the situation described above. One such device provides the smoke detector with a button located on the smoke detector housing that can be pushed to deactivate the unit. That is, many newer smoke detectors now have a “mute” or “silence” button on the smoke detector itself. This button is intended to allow the user to silence the audible alarm for a period of time if the alarm was caused by nuisance smoke. This method still requires the user to climb up onto something in order to reach the smoke detector deactivation button. Another such device provides a hard wired, remote switch that can be located in a specific location, perhaps in the vicinity of a problem-some appliance, such as a stove or oven. This requires the installation of a switch in a specific location and provides for no variability in the location of the switch, at least not easily. Movement or relocation of appliances may work to make the switch impractical to use or even completely inaccessible. Still another assembly of prior art utilizes a remote switch that, though not hard wired, is intended to be fully remote and portable within the home. The remote switch of this type, much like the proverbial television remote control, is not attachable to a vertical surface, such as a wall, and is prone to being lost or misplaced.
Another concern with smoke detectors of current manufacture is meeting battery life requirements set forth by law. However, requiring a radio frequency (RF) receiver to continuously “listen” for incoming RF messages greatly increases power consumption and requires a much larger battery than is typically used in a smoke detector.
In the view of these inventors, what is needed is a smoke detector with a remote wireless alarm silencing means wherein the remote means is not hard-wired to the smoke detector but which allows the remote means to be mountable yet easily relocatable throughout the normal area of its use. That is, the means, or several of them, could be used by the user to remotely silence the smoke detector alarm for a short pre-programmed period of time, the remote silencing means being easily mountable to a smooth, flat surface, but also being easily relocatable as desired or required.
What is also needed is a remote alarm silencing means that is capable of muting the alarm, reducing its volume and/or lighting a light to indicate actuation of the silencing means. The smoke detector should also be capable of remotely actuating a “test” light to ensure that the detector is operable.
What is also needed is a remote alarm silencing means that is simple in construction and is an easily replaceable item. However, the remote alarm silencing means should include a long-life, self-contained power source within it and also include means for placing the remote alarm silencing means in a “no-power” or “low-power” consumption mode.
In order to accomplish its function, the transmitting frequency of the remote alarm silencing device must match the receiving frequency of an electronically-activated switching or pulse-generating circuit within the smoke detector itself. It would also be desirable that the smoke detector include a “code learning” feature to accomplish this matching. In this way, off-the-shelf silencing devices may be purchased to replace existing devices that come with the primary detector unit at the time of original purchase. What is also needed is a primary detector unit that includes a battery-access port having a screw within it for preventing the easy removal of the battery from the smoke detector, or at least making it less convenient to remove the battery than in a unit where the battery-access port does not include the screw.
In the experience of these inventors, most smoke detectors are contained within an off-white or white exterior housing. Accordingly, what is also needed is such a smoke detector having a remote alarm silencing means that is also aesthetically-pleasing to the user, the remote alarm silencing means including a simple button-switch mounted or encapsulated within a housing that may be purchased by the user in a personally-pleasing decorated fashion, much as cell phones and other devices have interchangeable housings that come in a wide variety of colors, patterns and designs. In this way, the remote alarm silencing unit of the present invention would be somewhat of a décor-complementing device.